When we give without intention of a pay back, the natural progression of things brings positive results. We feel that we have contributed to others which provides a warmth in our hearts and is a great way to get others to join in. If we volunteer, donate or offer our time to others we will meet people that add to our own lives and businesses. Many networks based on philanthropic interests build strong alliances they are bussiness owners that serve the community and take interest in it.

Take conventional business wisdom and stir with collaborators from complementary industries that have an equal interest. Target others who have the same charitable goal that do not compete with your own. Maximize the fusion between social networks and search  engines with well known high quality rewards and incentives to motivate donors.  Learn how to use branding and marketing software to retain and build momentum.

Some ideas to to increase donations:

• Upscale attractive and create brown bag lunch auction
• Mentor hours offered to help other entrepreneur
• Weekend cruises
• Virtual shopping mall offering their choice of incentive
• Fundraising competition between industries for free advertising
• Host a chocolate party with prizes
• Free office rent
• Mini golf fundraiser interesting all participants

Particularly in this economy, people feel more inclined to give back.  People are grateful for what they have and want to help others.

Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” Luke 6:38

ll as extravagant prizes like cars and cruise vacations–which have sold for as much as $250,000. Other auctions have included education internships, gourmet dinners with top chefs and vineyard vacations

Charitybuzz auctions upscale merchandise as we

ll as extravagant prizes like cars and cruise vacations–which have sold for as much as $250,000. Other auctions have included education internships, gourmet dinners with top chefs and vineyard vacations

Your incentive to enhance your charisma is not about having more friends it is about making the right connections, drawing opportunities  easily towards you and increasing your marketability. Those with charisma find themselves working less and receiving more.

1)   Exude confidence and a great attitude when you walk into the room.  Walk confidently and smile, keep your eyes moving across the room when you walk into it. Move throughout the the room and introduce yourself. Many admire people who have the confidence to break the ice first. 

2)   Before you attend a networking mixer, find out what kind of companies will be represented. Do your homework so that you can speak about  light and interesting topics about their business. Your reward, will be you will learn a lot and meet great people.

3)   When you meet people listen more than you speak. Take interest in the other person by asking questions to learn more about them.

4 )  Be aware of body language. Is the person you are speaking with becoming bored? What is your body language coinciding with your verbal communication?

5 )  Be truly passionate. When you are excited you exude it, when you are angry others know it and when you are happy you are contagious!

6)   Be genuine, people don’t like those they don’t get a feeling for or can’t seem to know where you might stand.

7)  Be polite and pleasant. Treat everyone with respect.

8)  Empower people by helping them feel important and more confident.

9)  Laugh and have fun.

10)  After meeting someone shake hands and look them in the eyes to say it was nice meeting them.  

Stand out from the crowd using the head/heart connection. Tap into yourself and others physically, emotionally, intellectually and spiritually.  The reward is an enrich business and personal life.

How do your customers perceive your business? Do you view your employeeas your best asset. Those that work in Customer Service and Sales not only complete three to four main functions, they are the key to your business' success. Your front line people are often closer to your customers than you are. They hear unscenored customer complaints, suggestions and are a wonderful creative source. Customers freely communicate what they want and need each and every day because they feel comfortable doing so.  Your front line contacts are your best source of marketing information reducing your guess work.

If we changed our perception of our front line employees and truly listened, we would find how valuable they really are to our success. They may not be some of your key managers or most educated but they are immensely important to your business. By changing your perception of front line employees, their  perception of you will also change.  They will feel appreciated, empowered and help you create customer driven products and services leading to more business. Customer Service and Sales staff  in essence becomes an important part of our marketing teams.

Employee incentive and empowerment programs that unfold organically in their minds while avoiding forced creativity and action will prove to be immediately effective.  To begin your employee incentive and customer driven solutions campaign you need to focus on a few things first:

1)  Participative Management - Schedule opportunities to meet and exchange ideas that are fun in their environment.

2)  Put People at Ease - Mirror your front line and leave your management hat in your office. Answer the phone or work in the sales field.  Walk and talk their language.

3)  Self-Awareness - Ask yourself some honest questions. Do you visit your front line staff often? Do you congregate only with certain types of people? Do your  front line employees approach you warmly? Do you greet employees in the parking lot or at lunch? In other words, do they know you are a real human being?

4)  Do they have an opportunity to see a part of the real you? Do you participate in charity drives, brown bag lunches and summer picnics? 

Offering your employees a part of yourself and a point reward program will provide immediate benefits.  Employees will feel that they are part of your team and they will invest themselves into the success of the company. A reward program will maintain their interest because it rewards them with theirchoice of rewards. They can select quality merchadise, travel and share it all with the entire family. Platforms are attractive seamless and will keep your employees engaged.

According to the Service Research Bureau, 59% of lost business is the result of a poor customer service experience. Can you imagine the loss and the time it took these companies to earn that business? Frontline employees have a tough job. They need to be cheerful and helpful, provide solutions, communicate well, and know about the workings of your company. Not an easy task.  Retaining qualified people is not easy and is more important than ever. Buyers are shoping around for the best service more than ever before.  Because many front line jobs are considered entry level with a sometimes a long road to advancement, an incentive program is crucial for these employees and to your business.

Can these front line employees really make a difference? Here are just a few examples:

• One Forest Service employee suggestioned that money collected from visitors to forests and campgrounds into the Treasury account be completed weekely rather than monthly.  This simple suggested was projected to save $1 million over five years in employee time, transportation costs and bank deposit fees.

• A Support Clerk from Grand Junction, Colo., Veterans Affairs Medical Center suggested that VA hospitals allow veterans take home any unused prescriptions after they're discharged, instead of throwing the medications away saving in excess of $14 million dollars.

Empower and train your front line employees. Invest in your employees to retain and grown your business!

Here’s the first winner Lorraine Ontiveros, 23, with her company-supplied ride:

Lorraine Ontiveros 

The company calls its employee recognition “Driving to Success” and has employees vote on their peer who best exemplifies the chosen theme for the month.

Ontiveros was the landslide winner in July for the theme: “positive attitude.”

“The first time I drove the car, people were waving, giving me a thumbs up and even taking pictures of the car and it was a bit distracting, in a good way,” Ontiveros says.”It kinda felt like I had the paparazzi following me.”

In August she passed the keys to Jennifer Meehan, who fellow employees decided best exemplifies “excellent teamwork.”

Vic Tanon, Emplicity founder 

Emplicity founder Vic Tanon says he’s always trying to figure out how to reward and incentivize employees, which isn’t that easy in a recession.

“We have a lot of Gen Y employees who want recognition in different ways,” he says. “We wanted to make a loud statement when recognizing our employees and felt that a nice ride would give people something they could proudly take home and show to mom and dad and to their friends.”

Emplicity is a 14-year-old professional employer organization plus outsourced human resources service. It has 35 employees and offices in Irvine, San Francisco, Sacramento, San Antonio and Los Angeles.

The monthly award also helps emphasize core company values, Tanon says. Each month’s theme is one value re-enforced on a daily basis.

Employee recognition is a communication tool that reinforces and rewards the actions and behaviors you most want to see people repeat, says Susan Heathfield at About.com.

Her “Five Most Important Tips for Effective Recognition” include:

• Establish criteria for what performance or contribution constitutes rewardable behavior or actions.
• All employees must be eligible for the recognition.
• The recognition must supply the employer and employee with specific information about what behaviors or actions are being rewarded and recognized.
• The recognition should occur as close to the performance of the actions as possible, so the recognition reinforces behavior the employer wants to encourage.
• Don’t want to design a process in which managers select the people to receive recognition.

This has been one of the most difficult summers to collect blood in its history, with supplies dipping to critical levels.  It is imperative that donors give blood as fall progresses to help make up for low donation number over the summer.

How can your blood center increase in blood donations?

• The first task, revive up your recruiters and blood drive coordinators with great enthusiasm.
• Create a fall season kick off with music, food and blood donatioon incentives making it fun for the whole family.
•  Recognize the efforts of the team over the summer with pictures and lots of laughs. 
•  Agree on a fall season mascot and fall mission statement. 
• Arm everyone with cameras asking them to capture pictures from their favorite upcoming blood drive event or observed kind actions from a team member.
•  Have everyone participate in every aspect of this season’s marketing plan.
• Ask donors to provide you with their top 3 reasons for donating blood and post it in your center and on flyers.
• Ask donors and employees if they would like to be part of your recruiting team.  Furnish special t-shirts to be worn on Fridays and send them out to run errands or to the mall. They will be seen by everyone in your committee.  Reward them with movie tickets or gift cards for their efforts.
• Maximize your center’s website with interactive games, trivia contests, cooking tips and invitations to attend seminars.
• Don’t forget the kids; make sure there is lots of entertainment at blood drives and in your center while they wait for mom or dad.  The experience can be a bit unnerving for kid.
• Create a partnership with an animal donation center for a blood for all donation drive.  Look around, people take their pets every place.

Additionally, insert body language and vocal phrasing, both of which, if used correctly, can be highly effective and calming during the right time.  Train each center employee to be a marketing representative calling on local businesses to explain and promote the benefits of blood donations, sharing real life stories.  Join community business associations and networking clubs to promote awareness. 

Remember to regularly thank donors and provide blood donation incentives that demonstrate gratitude and will have them donating blood again.

So you walk a little today, get your heart rate up a bit, you lift a few weights, you eat a little differently, then tomorrow morning you wake up and look in the mirror… and see the same old flubber. You have to be pretty well along the path to see any significant results. What keeps you doing this simple thing, day after day?

Will power! It’s like my dad (mom, teacher, boss, older brother, minster, self) always told me… I just need more will power.

Really? I don’t think so. (A friend of mine used to say that people on diets who complain that they lack will power are usually suffering more from a lack of won’t power!) Will power is vastly overrated. For most people, will power ends up looking and feeling like some sort of grim self-tyranny, and involves creating an elaborate, artificial reward-and-punishment system.

Do you want to change? If so, I can show you how to tap into the most powerful force for change there is. Would you like to know what it is? Are you ready? Here it is: TIME.

Position your daily actions so time is working for instead of against you. Because time will either promote you or expose you.

What keeps you on the path is your Slight Edge philosophy, which includes your understanding of the secret of time. Knowing the secret of time, you say: If I stay on this road long enough, I’ll get the result I seek. It’s not a question of your mood, your feeling or your attitude. And it’s not a question of will power. It’s a question of simply knowing.

When you enter a darkened room, why does your hand reach out for the light switch? Because you know that when you hit the switch, the light will go on. You don’t have to give yourself positive self-talk about how you really ought to hit that light switch, or set up a system of rewards and punishments for yourself around whether you follow through or not with hitting the light switch. You don’t need any rigmarole; you just hit the switch. Why? Because you know what will happen.

You know.

It’s the exact same thing here; you walk a little every day, lift a few weights, eat a little better, and leave the penny in the purse (hit the light switch) because you know it will make you healthy and wealthy (the light will turn on).

It’s the exact same thing, no different—except for one thing, and that is time.

I am not only a looking for the ease of technology, I looking for traditional customer service and a warm greeting or two. I want options of online products and services along with face to face service.  I like variety in my life with lots of options. As Gen Xer, I want to know you are interested in my family, friends and I.  I want to know you are working on new online services that are easy to use with lots to offer. I also want rewards because they are at the top of my list when making my purchase decisions. I be interested in a credit or ATM card unless, I get a good deal and incentive rewards.

Point reward programs are interesting due to the variety of incentives that they offer.   I can either earn points to buy my mom something,  save up for a green vacation or donate to my favorite charity.  I definitely do not want to stuff my closet with another t-shirt or put add to my coffee mug collection in my kitchen.

I am your employee and your customer, I am your best advertising.  I will speak positively and energetically about my experience and believe in our relationship as an your employee and as your customer.

It’s called changing your life as well as changing your skills and earning more money. It’s best to invest some of that early money in lifestyle. Go to the movies. Take two vacations instead of one. Just some little extra things that now the family gets inspired by this new commitment to earning more and becoming more and learning more, taking some night classes, whatever you have to do. Now you make it more worthwhile for the family by thinking of lifestyle changes that now become very exciting. Go to the concerts. My parents said don’t miss anything. Don’t miss the play, the music, the songs, the performances, the movie—whatever is happening.

When I started making some extra money, I opened up an account for my wife and I called it the “No Questions Asked Account.” I said, “Here is the checkbook for a new account and it’s called no questions asked. I’ll just keep putting money in there and you spend it for whatever you wish.” It was life-changing. It wasn’t a fortune. But she didn’t have to ask for money anymore. I could sense that it was a little embarrassing at times when she had to ask me for money. I thought, that’s not good, so the first time I get a chance, here’s what I’m going to do. And sure enough, I did it. The “No Questions Asked Account.” You can’t believe what that did. It was absolutely amazing.

With that little extra money, work at creating lifestyle. Social friendships, church, community, country. All those things that make a composite of our overall life. Start furnishing that with new vigor, vitality, money, whatever it takes to expand your life into what I call the good life as well as economics.

And it doesn’t always take a lot of money. How much is a movie? Even for a person of modest means. $8 or $10? It might cost $60 million to make it and it only costs $8 to see it.

When I discovered those kinds of concepts at age 25 you can imagine it was hard for me to sleep nights that first year. I got so excited about changing everything. And one discipline leads to another. One change leads to another. Feeling good about yourself and starting to make the turn to do something you’ve never done before, then it starts to work, wow, and then you get excited about changing other areas of your life as well.

Now after you have made your fortune, the money and extravagance might not seem as big a deal. And fortunately you can then create even more powerful opportunities, in particular, opportunities for benevolence, philanthropy and giving.

Now I’m certainly not saying to focus only on external pleasures and rewards. Your relationships, health and spirituality are all of more consequence.

But in the beginning, when the rewards of your hard work begin paying off, make sure and treat yourself and those closest to you to a new world of lifestyle and celebrations.

Why You Respect Yourself
It seems that we truly respect ourselves only when we feel that we are respected by others, and we will go to great lengths to earn and keep that respect. When we feel that someone respects us for who we are and what we have accomplished, we tend to be more open to that person’s influence.

Two Things You Can Do
We can do two things to put ourselves in a position to be respected by others. The first is to develop our knowledge of our field. The more people perceive you know about your subject, the more they will respect you. The highest-paid people in almost every field are those who know more than the average people. They are recognized as experts, and they develop what is called “expert power.” Because of their superior knowledge, they are looked up to and listened to, and they are much more capable of influencing others to act in a particular way than they would be if their knowledge level were just average.

Know Your Business Well
The best salespeople are those who know their products cold. They deeply understand every aspect of their products and the ways in which their products can be used to achieve the most important goals of their customers.

Develop Your Expertise
Another way to put ourselves in a position of being respected by others is to develop our expertise. Expertise is closely tied to knowledge, but it is a little different. Expertise is the ability to do, the ability to perform well in your chosen field. Men and women with expertise are those who practice over and over in whatever they do until they become known far and wide as the very best in their field.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action:

First, study your field in detail. Dedicate at least one hour per day to reading, listening to audio programs, studying to become more and more knowledgeable about what you do.

Second, continually upgrade your knowledge and skills in your field. Identify your weakest important skill and go to work on that.

Knowledge and know-how are the keys to the 21st century.